The Second Time
by itsajensenthing
Summary: Gibbs' usual '50-over-the-limit' speeding costs' one of his team their life. Character Death. One-Shot. Sort of a tag to Kill Ari p1. Review.


**Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Tony DiNozzo. Timothy McGee. Character Death. **

_**~ "I'm dead, Gibbs. That's the second time it's been your fault." ~**_

Gibbs zig-zagged through the traffic on the high way. As per usual, commute time from point A to point B was cut in half when ever Jethro Gibbs was behind the wheel. McGee had worked out, some years ago, how to successfully balance his laptop on his lap, while holding on for dear life to the passenger side door.

"No, Gibbs, that's not what I said." Tony protested from the back seat. He sat directly behind Gibbs, with one hand on the door handle, and the other working to steady himself on the seat beside him. "All I'm saying is, the guy might not be guilty. Did he seem like a guy who would kill his wife, to you? Because he didn't to me!"

Gibbs chuckled from the drivers seat, while McGee did a good job at ignoring the bickering. McGee could sometimes swear half their arguments were that of father/son arguments. Which made him feel like the little brother that kept quiet.

"DiNozzo, c'mon! How long have you been a cop?" Gibbs questioned.

Tony rolled his eyes and looked out the window; observing all the speeding traffic with their choir of disapproving horns. It was a pathetic argument they were having. Differences of opinions. Gibbs had seen the guilt and blame in the widowed man's eyes, while Tony saw sadness and grief. Gibbs believed the husband was the killer, while Tony didn't. Neither could understand the other's reasons behind their opinions, but they had to come to some sort of agreement, otherwise the team would be split up again. Both working the same case, just from different angles.

"The husband killed the wife. Why don't you open your eyes and see that?" Gibbs snapped.

"Oh, so, just because you say so, that's the final answer? You'd send an innocent man, who just lost his wife by the way, to jail! Because your gut tells you 'Men don't cry unless they've got something to hide'. Nice, Gibbs. I hope someone felt the same way about you when..." Tony stopped himself before he said the last words, how could he be in that sentence? How could the next words be on the tip of his tongue?

McGee's head shot up, he glanced to Tony with a worried look, one Tony reflected, then looked to Gibbs.

Gibbs knew exactly what Tony was about to say. "When what, Tony?"

Tony looked to McGee then looked down, "Nothing."

Gibbs then suddenly filled with anger. He looked into the review mirror so he could see Tony. "You're getting personally attached to too many cases lately. Do you need some time off, DiNozzo?"

Which Tony knew was Gibbs' language for; "I'm getting really irritated with you on my team."

"Maybe I should just quit!" Tony snapped back, like a sixteen year old telling his Dad he would just move out.

"Maybe you should-" Gibbs was interrupted by McGee's sudden panic.

"Boss! Car! CAR!" McGee cried from the passenger seat; pointing to a white car switching lanes in front of them.

Gibbs only had time to swerve out the way, which may have been the wrong decision. Travling the opposite way beside them, was a Walmart truck. Gibbs had only a short reaction time to swerve a little bit out the way, so that the car didn't hit the truck head on. But the car did hit the truck, which sent it spinning ridiculously out of control across the highway.

Cars all stopped and swerved to avoid hitting the out of control car. Finally, the car jumped off the road and into the trees beside the highway. The back of the car fell into a thick tree trunk, and instantly all three agents were rendered unconscious.

It was only might or two before Gibbs came too. With a cut on his temple and a broken finger, Gibbs was the least of the injured. He reached over to the passenger seat and shook McGee a little. McGee woke with a grunt; suffering only a concussion and a ripped sleeve on his jacket.

Looking at each other; neither one could believe how lucky they'd been. It was then that Gibbs got a chill down his spine. Tony. In the reflection of the review mirror; Gibbs could see Tony's head rested neatly against the door frame.

"McGee," Gibbs struggled to sit himself up properly. "Wake DiNozzo up."

McGee nodded and reached back into the back of the car. He could just feel Tony's leg and started to shake it. "Tony!" he called, and got no response. McGee leaned back further and shook harder on Tony's leg; smacking Tony's knee to send a sensation of pricing pain through his body that would jolt him again, "TONY!" And again, McGee got no response.

By this time, people had jumped from their cars and were standing on the edge of the road; watching the horror unfold. Some were on their phones, to the police and paramedics no doubt, while other were talking about the crash amongst themselves.

The truck driver, who Gibbs had hit, had parked his truck about half a mile up the road. He was running as fast as his legs would carry him to the crash site. He knew it hadn't been his fault of the collision, but he knew he had to do everything he could to make sure everyone in that car was okay.

The driver first attended to Gibbs, as McGee ripped off his seat belt and climbed into the back of the car - it was a tight fit, but he managed. The truck driver helped Gibbs out of the car, and sat him down on the grass a few feet from the wreck. It was now that Gibbs saw how truly banged up the car was. The entire back had been pushed in, and the engine was half gone. He'd really done a number this time, and he couldn't help but think of the conversation he was about to have with Vance.

McGee kept hitting Tony when ever he could. Finally he got himself completely in the back of the car, just next to Tony. McGee tried to move Tony's head but it was jammed against the seat and the door. Tony had a cut on his forehead, which bled over the side of his face. While he also had a line of blood running out of the corner of his mouth.

"Tony! Wake up! Can you hear me? Wake up!" McGee kept calling. Then an instinct told McGee to hold his hand over Tony's mouth. McGee couldn't feel Tony breathing... there was nothing.

Panic started to wash over McGee. No. This can't be happening! McGee held two fingers to Tony's neck and found no pulse. He grabbed Tony's wrist, and again found no pulse. McGee started to shake Tony, harder and harder. Calling to him, asking him to wake up.

Gibbs brought his knees up to his chest, he rested his elbows over the top of his knees and looked from the wreck to the blue sky. No one had to tell him, he knew. He knew from the minute Tony didn't respond to McGee.

The truck driver managed to force Tony's door open. He knelled down beside Tony's body and put his hand over McGee's wrist. With sympathetic eyes, the man look up at McGee and calmly said; "He's gone. " the man paused for a minute and stood up. "I'm sorry."

McGee couldn't force himself away from Tony. "No," he said. "No.. I don't... I don't understand. He can't.. Not like this.. I.. He was fine. He was talking, arguing, with Gibbs 5 minutes ago. Everything was fine, he was okay.. How can..." but McGee couldn't speak any more. His could feel a tightness in his throat, so tight he felt like he was going to choke.

The police arrived just after the paramedics were done cleaning McGee and Gibbs up. They took the two agents back to NCIS and told them they'd get back to the agency about details of the crash.

Gibbs had already called Vance while waiting for the paramedics, and Vance had then called Senior, who'd insisted on Tony's body to be flown to Long Islands for a proper burial in the Family cryptic. Senior also said he'd make arrangements for the team to be flown out to Long Islands for the memorial.

Gibbs had taken on the job clear out Tony's desk. He wanted it done before the morning, and with no case to work - since Vance had moved the case to another team - Gibbs had all night to do it. But as he sat at his own desk, with his eyes gazing over to Tony's desk. In a quiet, dark, and empty building, he was regrettably reminded of Kate's death. And much like when Kate died, Gibbs imagined the same angry, hurt, and destroyed spirit of the fallen team mate.

Tony suddenly appear in the jacket and cap he'd been wearing when the car tumbled off the road.

"What's the matter, Gibbs? Too afraid to empty my draws?" Tony said harshly.

Gibbs shook his head. What was he doing? Why did he feel like this? He felt like he was blame, it was his fault. But, it was his fault! If he hadn't been speeding, if he hadn't been fighting with Tony, if he had paid attention to the road, he would have seen the car, he wouldn't of had to swerve to miss it. He wouldn't of hit that truck, and Tony would still be alive.

Tony took a step closer. And with cold, dark, eyes full of hatred, he said his true last words. "I'm dead, Gibbs. That's the second time it'd been your fault." he then chuckled slightly before fading away. "At least you had something nice to say to Kate before she died. "

**/end.**

**A/N: Originally had it uploaded on Tumblr, but took it down knowing it wasn't the right website to upload a one-shot, haha :)  
>... I'm not a happy person, you should know that. Would explain why 80% of everything I upload is about death, or is in some way depressing.<br>Also, I know Tony and Gibbs would never fight like this... but it was interesting to right. **


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